Akai S900

The S900 sampler was Akai's first truly professional sampler, released in 1986. Its sampling specifications were pro-quality at the time: 12-bit stereo sampling, 7.5kHz to 40kHz variable sampling rates and a maximum of 63 seconds of sample time at 7.5kHz. Up to 32 samples can be created and stored to disk along with any edit settings. This was one of the first rack-mount samplers to use a built-in disk drive. Although the drive could load sounds while you play, it was still a very slow process.

Editing and programming the S900 is a very good precursor to the advanced S3000 series. There are lots of advanced edit capabilities for looping, truncating, velocity crossfading, tuning and even analog-like parameters to control. Individual outputs for each of the eight voices, stereo mix out, stereo input, MIDI and trigger inputs round out this machine as a professional vintage-status sampler that still proves to be very useful even for today's musicians!

Akai S950

The S950 soon followed the S900 and offered increased memory and sampling rates. The sample rate was now variable from 7.5 to 48kHz and it could hold up to 99 samples in memory. Memory could be expanded from 750KB to 2.25MB. The S950 is used by Fatboy Slim, Moby, Skinny Puppy, Depeche Mode, Future Sound of London, Sneaker Pimps, The Bomb Squad, Dr. Dre, DJ Premiere, Prince Paul, Vangelis, Digable Planets and A Guy Called Gerald.

KONEY

March 3, 2009 @ 7:30 am

The punchiest sound ever! I'd love to put its DA converter into a PC audio card :)

BTW, I interface it nicely with a PC, with mac people reports that it's worst, expecially if you don't have a floppy drive!

Chewo

March 2, 2009 @ 5:10 pm

This truly is the greates 12bit sampler! I do most of my beats with it (S950) - just love it.

L. Stanley

December 29, 2008 @ 12:30 pm

Wikipedia and a lot of sites taking their info from Wiki credit the E-mu SP 1200 with changing the face of hip hop. But the Akai S900 is the one pictured on the jacket of Stetsasonic's single "Talkin' All That Jazz," a group which featured Prince Paul, among others. The Akai was a far better sampler than its competitor (Emu's SP-12) at the time it was released in 1986. The revolution in sampling was already in progress when the SP-1200 was released!!

mike

November 14, 2008 @ 4:58 am

The S950 has always been my favorite sampler, for it's ease of use.stereo samples can be achieved with a bit of practice, and the results speak for themselves. it's just brilliant.

cevasco

November 13, 2008 @ 10:54 am

12 bit = rullante hiphop sonorità tipicamente rap anni '90.
davvero divertente, anche se ci vuole un po' per imparare a programmarlo a dovere e se difficilmente si riesce ad interfacciarlo con i pc d'oggi...meglio con mac
qualcuno lo usa anche solo per utilizzarlo come effetto facendoci passare attraverso il basso od altro....

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